Flynn grabbed Obelix from my arms and rocked him like a baby. “Whose blood is it, then?”
“It’s probably sheep blood,” Corbin said. “The farmers around here would have easy access to that.”
“They’re just trying to scare us.”
“It fucking worked,” Rowan said, nuzzling Obelix’s fur.
“What do we do now?” Flynn asked.
“From now on, no one goes into the village,” I said. “We know these people are capable of violence. Corbin, is there anything we can do to magically propel them away from the house?”
“I know some protective charms we could make,” Aline piped up. “Rowan can help me with the ingredients.”
“Get it done,” I said. “We’ve got something else we need to focus on. I just spoke to Daigh.”
“You…what?” Corbin looked horrified. “But how?”
“He was in the mirror in the bathroom. That’s where I was when I saw a shadow in the window.” As quickly as I could, I explained how Daigh had appeared in the mirror and what he agreed to. Everyone listened with rapt attention, but their response wasn’t what I expected.
“How is he communicating via the mirror inside the wards?” Aline asked, her brown furrowing.
“It wasn’t really him – it was just a projection in the mirror.”
“Last time we spoke with him, it was also a projection, but we still had to go outside of the walls to call him,” Aline said.
“Maybe it only works if he calls us, but not the other way around?”
“Maybe,” she said, but she didn’t look convinced.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we don’t have time to worry about the mechanics of Daigh’s appearance.” The rules of magic didn’t seem to follow any logic I understood. If they did, Aline would be in a box in the ground and not standing in front of me arguing about thisexactpoint. “The fact is, we havea chance to stop the Slaugh before they walk. Even though we have the belief power, it’s completely untested. We have to take the chance to stop fae before they’re able to hurt anyone else, especially if it means a permanent solution.”
“I agree,” Corbin said. “But I don’t like the idea of you and Blake meeting him alone.”
“Me neither,” Arthur growled, touching his hand to his sword again.
“I knew you’d say that. That’s why I told Daigh you’d be hiding in the trees, watching the whole thing. He knows he can’t pull one over on us. What’s the worst he can do?” I said. “We’re all baptised now. He can’t drag us down to the underworld with him.”
Corbin didn’t look convinced, but he wasn’t in charge, I was, and I needed to believe that we could solve this without getting the souls of the dead involved. I looked around our little group. With the exception of Clara and Ryan – because I didn’t really know them – every one of us had lost someone special to us, someone who we didn’t want to see resurrected as a ghoul to terrorise and scour the earth. We had to take the chance that Daigh was at least considering the plan.
Back in the house, Flynn, Ryan, Arthur, and Corbin went back to work on the statue. Rowan grilled sausages and made a salad and fries (chips, in the English vernacular), while Aline chopped herbs and made small pouches out of some old velvet curtains. She filled the pouches with herbs and stones, and waved her hands and chanted over them like a fairground fortune teller. I hoped like hell she knew what she was doing.
Aline added a drop of blood from each of us into the charms and sealed the bags. “No human will be able to pass through these charms except for those whose blood has touched them,” she explained. “They will work alongside the wards that protectyou from the fae entering, and will also stop most magic – fae or witch – from penetrating the walls. There is a catch.”
“Spill it,” I said, holding my head in my hands.Great, one more thing to worry about.
“You’ll still be able to use your magic inside the castle grounds, but you cannot send magic over the boundary. Any spell you cast or attempt to will come up against an invisible barrier. The barrier won’t last forever. Enough power or muscle thrown at it and it will crumble, same as any wall. But I’ve made it as strong as I dare.”
“I justknowthis is going to bite us in the arse,” Corbin said, gathering up an armful of the pouches. “But we’ll take what we can get.”
Arthur and Corbin went to place the charms at the corners of the estate. When they returned and reported no other villagers nearby, we sat down for a tense dinner, punctuated by a long stream of Flynn nonsense as he tried to impress his new artistic hero.
After dinner, Clara and Ryan left to return to Raynard Hall, and the boys decided to teach Aline how to play video games. Since the last time she saw a computer game the graphics were still in two dimensions, she was awestruck as soon as Flynn handed her a controller. I laughed along with them watching her die three times in quick succession, when I noticed Corbin had disappeared from the Great Hall.
“I’ll be right back,” I told Flynn and headed up to my room to grab something I wanted to show Corbin, which I folded up and hid under my shirt. Back on the first floor I found him – of course – behind his desk in the library, poring over Clara’s ancient book.
“Find anything important?” I asked. Corbin set down his magnifying glass.
“Not important, just interesting. I knew the history of the Soho coven was sordid, but it turns out I don’t even know the meaning of the word.”
